Friday, October 19, 2007

Frugal Friday - Cloth v Paper


Today's tip is not earth shattering, but it does go to show how even little things can add up over time.

A couple of years ago I'd heard, yet again, about using cloth in the kitchen and doing away with paper towels. I happened to be at S*am's a day or so later and saw their pack of shop towels. I picked up 2 packs of 20 or so. When I got home I realized that they were big. So I cut all of them (except 5 or so) into fourths. This gave me a ton of towels. And we use them for everything. Every time we'd think to grab a paper towel, we grab one of these now. I keep a small stack (20ish) on my microwave. The rest are on a pantry shelf.



I keep a little basket right behind the trash can to throw these wipes and any other kitchen towel into.



They get washed with the regular towels so they create almost no extra laundry at all.

We still use paper towels for some things. An example is that we have an older dog and he gets sick sometimes. I'm not yet at the point of using kitchen towels for that. But now a roll of paper towels will last as much as 2 weeks. Where as before, we'd easily use a roll in a day or two.

Even figuring conservatively, with paper towels at .50 a roll and "only" using 10 less rolls a month, that's a savings of $100 over 2 years ($120. - the $20 investment in the towels.)

And they're still going strong.

For more Frugal Friday tips, be sure to check out Crystal's Blog!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a terrific idea! I'm totally "borrowing" it. ;P With 4 boys in the house, we go thru paper towels like there's no tomorrow!

Debbie J said...

That is great info! I too have an old dog who has a very sensitive stomach. He's very good but sometimes there are accidents. I HAVE to have paper towels for that. Placing cloth towels in the basket on the microwave for everything else is a great idea!

Anonymous said...

Great idea Michelle! Can you use them to do windows with to?

My name is Michelle. said...

Beth, I'd actually meant to put in the post that I kept the big ones for dusting and windexing!

So yes, absolutely. I just add a little bleach (just a teeny bit) to my towels to disinfect them. But I always did that anyway.

Sherry said...

I will have to check out the shop towels at Sam's now. We tend to use lots of papertowels around here. Thanks.

Andrea Maddiex said...

Hey Michelle!
We have a grocery outlet here but they rarely carry the same thing consistently and their prices are going up. We have a Wal*mart, Safe*way, Albert*sons, and Fred*Meyers. The Wal*mart here is pretty pricey from what I glean from other bloggers. Fred*meyers is cheapest on many things. We shop Safe*way some due to the fact that my hubby works there and they are cheapest on milk. They also do put up their ad online-I don't know about the rest of the others stores, I never thought to check. This is going to be a particularly tight year and I need all the suggestions I can get. :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent idea. But I hate doing laundry.

jesnicole said...

I'M GOING TO GET SOME OF THOSE!! I USUALLY USE TOWELS BEFORE PAPER TOWELS...BUT I DIRTY UP ALL MY PRETTY ONES!! IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO BUY THIS KIND!! GREAT BLOG! :)